2021 - Happy New Year from Our Maker's Acres Family Farm

 

The Sonnier's

As year 2020 fades behind us, I say, "Good Riddance!"  What a year it was!  From Covid-19, to civil unrest across the Country, to two hurricanes, to political uncertainty...  And I could go on.  Lots of what I mentioned in the previous sentence lingers on and will hitch a ride right on into 2021.  As always a new year brings with it great expectations and hope for better times.  It is good to be hopeful.

I read a quote by Pilot "Sully" Sullenberger that said, "In so many areas of life, you need to be a long-term optimist but a short-term realist." How true that is.  We wish things to be so, but that doesn't mean that they are.  Positive thinking is great, but you must be a realist to be able to function in this life and have the 'tools in your tool bag' to navigate through this cursed world.  It's not easy.

As we venture into the new year, uncertainty confronts us.  How will we cope?  I wish you peace and joy, health and prosperity, but most of all I pray that you know Jesus.  He is the Messiah, our Savior, The Blessed Hope, Our Redeemer, and in knowing Him, you can be optimistic long term.  He lived, died, and rose again to give us eternal life.  He defeated sin and the grave.  Believe in Him!  Receive His free gift of eternal life.  The worries of today and this New Year will still be here, but you'll have hope to face the future and He'll give you peace that only He can give.

I'm not good at New Year's Resolutions - a month in (sometimes less) and I've already broken them.  My grandmother used to tell me "my eyes were too big for my stomach."  In resolutions I usually bite off more than I can chew.  A friend shared this quote with me and, although not necessarily a resolution, it is definitely some good things to shoot for:

"Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can." -John Wesley

Happy New Year to you!!

2020 Vision

Happy New Year, Everyone!

How could I be that close and yet so far off the track

Well, I've got 20-20 vision but only looking back - Ronnie Milsap

That's some of the lyrics from a good old, classic country song by Ronnie Milsap.  Sometimes I feel just like that.  As I look back on 2019, I can see clearly things I couldn't see while living the moment.  Last year I set three goals.  Let's see how I did:

Goal #1  Read 3 chapters a day in the Bible.  Doing so will get you through the Bible in one year.  I failed in this goal. 

Goal #2  Do at least 25 push ups and 25 sit ups every day.  Doing so will keep me in shape.  I failed in this goal.

Goal #3  Read at least 1 book per month.  I far exceeded this goal.

1 out of 3.  Not good.  Why did I not achieve my goals?  I believe it was because I got distracted.  Work is stressful and involves long hours.  When I'm off, I just like to unwind.  I like to check items off my to do list.  Tricia and me and the boys were talking about goals yesterday and today.  We find that we are pretty, doggone good at setting short term goals and achieving them.  Items on our list that include routine maintenance or chores generally get completed and scratched off the list.

It's the long term goals we I struggle with.  Routine Bible reading builds faith and positions you to learn about and walk more closely with God.  While I truly do love reading the Bible, I admit I find it hard to discipline myself to sit still and read.  I get easily distracted.  I have put this back as the #1 goal this year.

As I get one year older, my metabolism slows and gravity and time takes its toll.  Work is demanding and by the time I get home, I'm tired mentally and physically.  I simply must be more disciplined to keep in shape.  I put this back as my #2 goal this year.

As another year passes by, I realize that I need to do a better job at getting my financial house in order.  We have done a good job with managing debt and sacrificing so that we have been able to save for retirement.  We have not done such a great job in managing our investments.  They aren't diversified, balanced, or allocated properly.  I have added this to my goal list this year.

What we discussed as a family is that it has been proven that if you write your goals down, you are more likely to achieve them.  If you don't write goals down or even if you have long-range goals, but don't list steps to get you toward those long range goals, you experience "drift."  Life just happens and things get away from you - a year later, you find yourself wondering what in the world happened?  I want to live life in a purposeful manner, intentional, and with the end-goal in sight - spiritually, physically, and financially.

Happy 2020 Everyone!

Happy New Year To You From Our Maker's Acres Family Farm

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Well, 2018 is in the books, wrapped up with a bow and all done.  In the upcoming days, we'll look back at some of the numbers like we always do - looking at rainfall, egg production, milk production, animal production, etc.

For now we'll look ahead to 2019 with a few resolutions and/or goals.  I've come to dislike resolutions simply because they are so doggone hard to keep.  I always start with such good intentions, only to fall short of following through.  And the salt in the wound is that it doesn't take me very long to get off-track on my lofty goals.

This year, I'm going to try to keep things simple, and I've asked my family to hold me accountable.  Here goes:  I like to make goals in three areas: Spiritual, Physical, and Mental.

Spiritual Goal for 2019: Read 3 Chapters a day in the Bible.  Doing this will enable me to read through the Bible in a year.  I like to read beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation.  I know many people will read a couple chapters in the Old Testament and 1 chapter in the New Testament each day.  I like to read the Bible through, though.  It is just more orderly and I can follow the timeline of what is going on from a historical perspective that way.

Physical Goal for 2019:  Do at least 50 push ups and 50 sit ups each day.  I am not real big on working out.  I would much rather work hard in meaningful work that accomplishes an outcome, but especially during the short days of winter, there's not a lot to do outside.  I'm 52 now and as the metabolism slows, but my appetite for good food grows, there's a weighty problem ahead (no pun intended) if I don't burn some calories.

Mental Goal for 2019:  Read a book a month. 

I have a few homestead to do's, but these are more to do list items than resolutions.  I'll list them here and will check them in a year to see how much we got done:

1. Put in sidewalks to help with trudging through the mud,
2. Add lighting to the barn.  Adding the lean-to's on either side of the barn made it darker in the barn,
3. Add lights to the cattle trailer.  Maybe we can be legal for Benjamin's last year of showing:),
4. Build a roof that spans between the barn and goat barn,
5. Bring in more fill dirt to fill in low areas around the barn,
6. Improve drainage around the barn,
7. Make homemade soap

So there we have it.  We have been blessed in 2018 despite some difficult bumps in the road.  May God bless you and your family in 2019!

Follow Through in 2017

Happy New Year!  This morning when I woke up I began thinking about the new year and the potential that lay ahead.  I began thinking about New Year's resolutions.  I never do too well with resolutions. Oh, I do pretty good for the first week and then things seem to unravel.  I've tried several things to remedy that.  I've tried to make resolutions that are more easily achievable.  I've even tried not making resolutions.  What is my problem?

Follow through.  It reminds me of this memory: When I was a young boy, my parents bought me a big book full of beautiful pictures and little stories about animals that had morals at the end of each story.  The book was called Aesop's Fables.  I loved it and read the stories over and over and over.  There was a story in there called "The Belling of the Cat"  I'll paraphrase it the best I remember it.

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The mice held a committee meeting as things weren't going well in Mouseville. There was a cat in the house that was tormenting the mouse population. Something had to be done and had to be done quickly.  As the mice conferred, a young mouse moved forward with an idea.  Two of his friends carried out a collar that had bells fastened to it.  The mouse explained to the elders that they proposed that they should attach the collar with the bells on it around the cat's neck.

That way, when the cat came into the room, the mice would hear the bells jingling and would be able to get out of the way of the hungry feline.  Although Maw Maw and Paw Paw and cousin Pookie had been devoured by the cat, with the bell around the cat's neck, the slaughter of the mice would end.

What a great idea!  The mice put the young mice on their shoulders and paraded them around the room.  They were all so happy with the good news that would ensure their survival.  Then it got real quiet in the room  as all the mice pondered the question on everyone's minds:  Who would put the collar with the bells on the cat?

The moral of the story is that Great Plans without corresponding action are just mere, empty words. Plans, goals, and, yes, resolutions require follow through.  The mice taught me what I need this year to help me.

Looking Forward to 2014... And looking Back

Laura Lee and Russ are home for the holidays and out of college until the middle of January.  It has been nice having them home.  Since today is Russ' 19th birthday, last night we started a big fire in the fireplace and spent some family time together.  Tricia had the fantastic idea of getting out the video tape of the day that Russ was born and watching it.  I don't think we had ever watched it.  Tomorrow is New Year's Day and I'll get around to addressing that in the end.  But first, a brief trip down memory lane..

I remember growing up in the late 60's and early 70's and we had a Super 8mm projector like the one shown below.  We would sit down in the living room, prop the front of the projector up on some National Geographic magazines and point it at a white wall and watch footage from our family vacations in our Oldsmobile station wagon with simulated wood-grain siding.  Me and my brother and sister were making goofy faces at each other and clowning around in all of the movies.  At the very end of every movie, for some reason, the bulb would melt a big spot in the film. In my mind's eye, I can still see the melting blob of film and hear the click, click, click of the movie signifying the end before we could get to the projector and stop the melting film.  I can still smell the smell of melting film.  Weird how you remember the oddest things!

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Anyway, when our kids were born, we had a "compact" VHS movie camera, which is ridiculously huge by today's standards.  As we began to watch the video of old Russ' first day on the Planet, it turned into a very emotional time for me for several reasons.

First, we were SO YOUNG! We didn't have the scars (physical and emotional) that we have now that 20 years will put on you.  We were oblivious to the hardships that the next few months/years would hit us with (Russ was a very sick little boy for the first year or two of his life.  We almost lost him).

Second, seeing old pictures really puts it in perspective how time flies.  You only have your kids for a brief period before they are off on their own.  Scary really, when you think about what a short time you have to be a parent.

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Finally, the video had both of my grandmothers in it and hearing them talk was really something.  Everything seemed so normal.  And then just a few short years later, they were both gone.  Everything changes... so very quickly.  It was sobering in that it was a reminder that, in this New Year, we'd better enjoy every minute we have.  It reminds me of the following verse from the Bible:

James 4:14

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

So what can I do to make the most of 2014?  I usually try NOT to make New Year's resolutions because many times I don't stick with them.  I read a study from the University of Scranton that said that 81% of people who make New Year's resolutions fail to reach them.  I don't want to be in that statistic.  I also read that people who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them, so I hope this counts as writing them down.  With that being said, here goes:

I like to make 3 goals for the year - one spiritual, one physical, and one mental.

Spiritual Goal: This year I will be more intentional in sharing my faith and putting feet to my faith by being purposeful in living out the words of my Savior, Jesus Christ.  In order to deepen my relationship with God, I'll read my Bible and pray daily.

Physical Goal:  This year I will be deliberate in engaging in physical activity each and every day - simple stuff like push-ups and sit-ups, but when the days get longer, gardening and physical labor outside each day will do it for me.

Mental Goal:  This year I will read at least one book each month.

So while the New Year is full of promise and questions and potential, this year is in God's hands.  If the Good Lord's willing, we'll do lots of things.  We also have responsibility in this, though.  Just this morning I was on my way to work.  It is a 50 minute commute that I do every weekday since August 2006.  I listen to Christian radio and political talk radio on my drive.  I was about 15 minutes into my commute and realized that I was on auto-pilot!  I didn't even remember getting on the Interstate.  But I had done it so many times that I wasn't thinking.  I was just going through the motions.  I began to think that that is exactly what will happen in the New Year if I'm not intentional about things.  I'll wake up from a daze on December 31, 2014 and wonder where the year went AND wonder why I'm in the same place spiritually, mentally, and physically.  This is unacceptable to me and I won't let it happen.

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From Our Maker's Acres Family Farm to you, we wish you a very Happy and Prosperous 2014!  Thanks for sharing 2013 with us.